UA5582U - Method of reserving and selling tickets - Google Patents

Abstract

The proposed method of reserving and selling tickets implies using the information on the flow of traffic and availability of free seats in vehicles, which is stored in the data base of the central computer. The method consists in transmitting, on the customer's request, information on the availability and arrangement of free seats in the vehicle as well as the electronic form of the customer's file card to the customer's personal computer, receiving from the customer the completed form of the file card with the indication of a selected seat in the vehicle, storing the received information in the data base of the central computer, assigning the specified identification code to the customer's request, transmitting the said identification code to the customer's personal computer, and permitting the print of the ticket after acknowledging the payment of the ticket value.

Description

The utility model refers to data processing methods specially designed for specific functions, namely for reserving and selling tickets for vehicles using the Internet.

Using the Internet for ticket sales has become an everyday phenomenon. The most widespread was the sale of tickets for spectacles (see, for example, RF patent 2189632, (406Е17/60, publ. 20.09.2002) and for vehicles, especially for trains in countries with developed railway connections.

The well-known automated system of reservation of seats and sale of railway tickets "Express-2", which is implemented on the railways of the countries of the former USSR, allows you to implement the method of reservation and sale of tickets, which includes storing in the main computer a database with information about the timetable and the availability of seats on specific trains and providing access to this information to customers through a network of railway ticket offices that are connected to the main computer. The information is displayed on the cashier's computer, which informs the buyer.

The buyer does not have access to this system from his computer.

Modernized "Express-3" system. pyr //Lumly ha. пи/езЗ/паех.рпр?нпе ий-735 allows you to receive a certificate about the train schedule, the availability of seats on trains by wagons and criteria (compartment, reserved seat, upper, lower, side, etc.) not at railway ticket offices, but via the Internet from the computer of a person who is interested in purchasing a ticket (hereinafter - the buyer).

With the use of this information, specialized agencies implement methods of reserving and selling tickets, which include providing the buyer with a registration form via the Internet that contains data about the buyer, filling out the registration form by the buyer, and sending the filled-in registration card with information about the selected seats in the train car to the agency, which based on the information received from the buyer, issues the order, informs the buyer of its number, buys tickets through the Express system and delivers them to the address indicated by the buyer (see, for example, pEr:/LgaipiiskKeiv.gy).

The disadvantage of the described method of reserving and selling tickets is as follows. When the buyer determines the availability of free seats using the "Express-3" system, he does not see the layout of the seats and is guided only by his experience when choosing them.

Having received information about the availability of seats on a specific train from one site, the buyer must go to the agency's site and order tickets through this site. When there are many orders, agency operators process them as they are received, and therefore it may turn out that seats on the train, which were still free when the buyer received information on the website of the "Express-3" system, may already be occupied by the time the ordered tickets are purchased by the agency, i.e. purchased by someone else, for example, directly through the railway ticket office. In this case, the buyer is offered other free places (if available), which may not suit him at all. Similar shortcomings are inherent in the methods of reserving and selling tickets for other types of transport.

The basis of a useful model is the task of developing a way of reserving and selling tickets for vehicles, which would allow the buyer to conveniently choose seats and receive tickets for the seats he has chosen.

This task is solved in a way that includes storing in the main computer a database with information about the timetable and the availability of seats for specific flights, providing the opportunity to access this information via the Internet to buyers, providing it to the buyer on his computer monitor after , how he chose a specific flight, the seat layout in the vehicle, on which the images of free seats are in interactive mode, providing the buyer with a registration form that contains data about the buyer, filling out the registration form by the buyer and marking the seat chosen by him on the seat layout its reservation, the buyer sends the filled-in registration form and information about the reserved place to the database with the simultaneous display of the image of this place on the seat location diagram from the interactive mode, assigning the order code in the database and sending it to the buyer's computer together with the time, until which the receipt must be redeemed ok, storage in the database of information about the buyer, the reserved place and the time by which the ticket must be purchased, notification by the buyer of the order code at any ticket office whose computer is connected to the database, printing of the ticket with data, received from the database under this code, after payment by the buyer of the cost of the ticket and services, transfer of the image of the seat on the seat location diagram to interactive mode in the event that the cost of the ticket and services has not been paid before the expiration of the time by which the ticket should have been purchased.

What is new in this method compared to the known ones is that the buyer receives information about the availability of free seats and orders them from the same site.

At the same time, he receives information about free seats in the form of a seat location scheme, which allows him to conveniently choose and order seats using this scheme.

Next, the method is described in relation to the reservation and sale of train tickets.

The existing "Express-3" railway ticket sales system can be used to implement the method. In the main computer of this system, which is connected to the computers located in the ticket offices and to the Internet, with the help of software, it should be possible to provide the customers' computers with a scheme of the location of seats in each carriage of the train, with the possibility of marking by the buyer in this scheme of available seats for which he wants to purchase tickets. With the help of software, the chart should display information both about the seats sold through the cash registers and about the seats reserved by the buyers from their computers by marking them on the chart.

Reservation and sale of tickets takes place in the following way.

The buyer, entering the site (Express-3 system), gets access to the information stored on the main computer. First, he receives information on the train schedule on his computer monitor and chooses a train and a carriage convenient for him. Then he displays an image of the seat layout in the selected car on his computer monitor. This diagram shows which seats are already sold or reserved and which are free. The image of the latter is in interactive mode. If there is a free seat on the seating chart that suits the buyer, he fills out the registration form that is displayed on the monitor screen together with the seating chart, marks the selected seat with the cursor and sends the completed registration form to the database. The number of the place marked by him is automatically sent to the database together with the buyer's data. When the information sent from the buyer's computer is entered into the database, the image of the seat on the seat chart is displayed in interactive mode. In the database, a code is assigned to the order, which is immediately automatically sent to the buyer's computer along with the time by which the ticket must be purchased.

Information about the buyer, the reserved place and the time by which the ticket must be purchased is stored in the database. Before the specified time, the buyer must go to any ticket office and buy a ticket. At the cash desk, he presents the order code, pays the price of the ticket and services for reserving a seat. The cashier enters the code into his computer, the order data is received from the main computer, and the ticket is printed using them.

If the buyer has not bought the ticket by the specified time, the image of the corresponding seat on the seating chart is automatically transferred to the interactive mode and another buyer can reserve this seat. The transfer of the image of the place to the interactive mode also occurs in the case when the buyer, who bought the ticket, then handed it in.

The provision of seating charts to customers on the computer monitor is stopped a certain time before the departure of the train in order to prevent a situation where certain seats are reserved but not purchased. This measure is necessary, in particular, to prevent malicious reservation of tickets without the intention of redeeming them. Once access to the seating plan is closed, tickets for seats that have not yet been purchased can be purchased at railway ticket offices.

It is clear that the described method of reserving and selling tickets can be implemented not only by upgrading the "Espress-3" system, but also by other systems in which the availability of seats is determined through one site, and tickets are ordered through another. This method can be used to develop new systems for booking and selling tickets, including for other types of vehicles, such as buses, airplanes, and steamships.

Claims (2)

1. The method of reserving and selling tickets for vehicles, which is characterized by the fact that it includes storing in the main computer a database with information about the timetable and the availability of seats for specific flights, providing the opportunity to access this information via the Internet to buyers, providing to the buyer on the monitor of his computer after he has chosen a specific flight, the scheme of the location of seats in the vehicle, on which the images of free seats are in interactive mode, providing the buyer with a registration form that contains data about the buyer, the buyer filling out the registration form and marking by the buyer on the map of the location of the selected place for its reservation, the buyer sends the filled-in registration form and information about the reserved place to the database with the simultaneous display of the image of this place on the map of the places from the interactive mode, assignment of the order code in the database and forwarding it to the computer the buyer's computer once m indicating the time by which the ticket must be purchased, storage in the database of information about the buyer, the reserved place and the time by which the ticket must be purchased, notification by the buyer of the order code at any ticket office whose computer is connected connected to the database, printing the ticket with the data obtained from the database under this code, after payment by the buyer of the cost of the ticket and services, transferring the image of the seat on the seat location diagram to interactive mode in the event that before the expiration of the time by which the ticket should have been purchased , the cost of the ticket and services was not paid. 2. The method according to claim 1, in which the provision of the scheme of the location of the seats in the vehicle to the buyers on the computer monitor is stopped for a certain time before the departure of the vehicle.